Immanuel Kant Essay: Are We Enlightened Today?

Are we enlightened today? To answer this question first we need to define enlightenment. Immanuel Kant saw enlightenment as freeing individuals from the social and especially from religious rules and restrictions, as ability to reasoning and think without someone’s direction. Of course most of the people would say that we achieved a lot since the XVIII century in terms of the freedom. We fought for abolishing slavery, women’s rights, rights to vote and be educated, to have property and choose religion, rights to have freedom. Even though we live in the system that we call democracy and have some certain degree of freedom, let’s face a truth. Our thought, system of values, decisions, beliefs, and entire lives are influenced by families, friends,

Later, when they grow up, assumptions and some beliefs are remained. For instance, many parents teach their kids religion they believe. It forms children’s minds and behavior. And being physically mature it is not easy to deny established norms. Any religion teaches to be obedient to some perfect mind or God, creating inequality a priori. It makes it easy to control people without questions, so someone needs to be superior to makes lives of others easier. For example, Candide learn from his teacher Pangloss that “everything is for the best in this best of possible worlds” (Valtaire). He just accepts all his misfortunes and unjustified world as given. Candide is shown even like a fool with his blind obedience. The worst thing is implanting the idea that other people who believe in different religion or do not believe at all are wrong. It reflects in Candide in many places, we can find this intolerance in the Cunegonde’s story about Grand Inquisitor. “I was taking to his place; I told him of my rank; he pointed out that it was beneath my dignity to belong to an Israelite” (Voltaire, 15). It is not only appearance of hypocrisy but it is mocking “wrong” religion. Fighting with infidels makes religious leaders look like they are protecting their people, but not like they are protecting their own power.But religion does not only give power to its leaders, it also becomes a tool in the hands of a